If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

These investments do not always make financial good sense, according to Filipe. He has doubts about the Portuguese press, for example, which is struggling. But for Angolans this is familiar territory and it represents a form of revenge too. Investing in the media and banking brings Luanda greater influence. The Portuguese are unhappy about this situation, even bitter at times. Many wonder whether the papers will still dare criticise Angola.

This phenomena is not new, after all money talks. Europe has recently seen large investments by Russian exiles, for example London has two Russian oligarch-owned papers, a national daily and London's main evening paper. Which may have affected EU responses to the crisis in teh Ukraine (discussed on that thread and elsewhere).

I suspect there is quite a bit of schadenfreude associated with this. My African and Brazilian friends, including those born after Angolan and Mozambican independence, all hold a bit of contempt towards Portugal. Iíve never seen quite the same level of distaste for a former colonial power. Even when I visited Cuba, people there had a few positive things to say about the Spanish legacy, despite their historical memory of the fight for independence as a long knock-down-drag-out affair.

If you donít read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. Ė Mark Twain (attributed)

Without any research I would say it is a mix between the drive to invest abroad, familiar language ground, old feelings and some schadenfreude.

To enlarge the most important points:

1) It is important to keep in mind that two countries with relative strong trade relations will tend to have assets owned by the trade partner. In this case wealth is highly concentrated in Angola, quite normal for a country in which the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party took power...

Allegations of corruption

Dos Santos has been accused of leading one of the most corrupt regimes in Africa by ignoring the economic and social needs of Angola and focusing his efforts on amassing wealth for his family and silencing his opposition. In Angola, nearly 70% of the population lives on less than $2 a day and yet he and his family have amassed a massive sum of wealth, with stakes in the leading businesses of the nation as well as international corporations.[21]

2) He needs to invest all that money gathered in a long service for the people of Angola. It is smart to hedge the bets, as an African dictator I would spread a good deal of the wealth around the world not limiting myself to Western countries.

3) Mr. dos Santos once followed the likely not so positive coverage of some elements of the press he now de facto acquired in a dirty camp out there. Now he has likely a strong say in some areas, must feel good.

4) Maybe, just maybe he wants to influence and control Portuguese media popular in Angola? Who knows?

Last edited by Firn; 06-03-2014 at 07:33 PM.

... "We need officers capable of following systematically the path of logical argument to its conclusion, with disciplined intellect, strong in character and nerve to execute what the intellect dictates"